From Texas, I mostly cover the energy industry and the tycoons who control it. I joined Forbes in 1999 and moved from New York to Houston in 2004. The subjects of my Forbes cover stories have included T. Boone Pickens, Harold Hamm, Aubrey McClendon, Michael Dell, Ross Perot, Exxon, Chevron, Saudi Aramco and more. Follow me on twitter @chrishelman.

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What is often overlooked in this debate is the fact that companies like Caterpillar and GE EMPLOY lots and lots of people in high earning positions whom all pay income tax as well as generate Social Security revenue. Companies have a fiduciary responsibility to mitigate their tax liability. As the author points out, the rules are set via Congress and Congress has only themselves to blame when companies invest in ways to abide by those them while also seeking to do what is best for the company.

Politicians like Levin have an ingrained sense of entitlement which allows them to believe they have an inherent “First Right” to the proceeds of American companies. That the outstretched hand of the Federal Govt. should be filled first among all takers. Rand on the other hand seems to realize that healthy American companies employing citizens and offering investors a place to park their money to be put to good use is great for America.

@polder – Agreed. High taxes not only drive corporations and capital overseas, but also drives away incremental jobs. Lowering taxes would inevitably spur U.S. GDP growth. But it honestly doesn’t seem like growth is what they’re interested in.

I believe President Obama and Senator Levin, and other “Progressive” politicians, truly believe that, on the one hand, direct stimulus can accomplish the objective of economic growth and are, on the other hand, loathe to “reward” companies via a lowering of corporate taxes. They see it as fundamentally “unfair” to, as they see it, again, “reward” companies when so many “working Americans” might be hurting financially. This overwrought sense of “fairness” drives their actions and blinds them to fiscal reality.

Their economic model falls well short of doing for the economy what the strategies put forth by Reagan, Bush II and even JFK used to spark the American economy into unprecedented periods of prolonged growth. However, Obama and Levin would never consider this approach due to their belief that somehow, low corporate tax rates represents something “unfair”.

You know, I also wonder about the influence of the green/anticarbon/antifracking gang on all this. If we stimulate growth we necessarily stimulate demand for more energy — which in this country is still predominantly oil/natgas/coal. Given that the anti-carbon zealots are against anything at all that will increase the use of fossil fuels, it follows that they are anti-growth. Sure, they’ll say that they are ra-ra for the growth of solar, wind, biomass etc, but that’s not the same as being in favor of GDP growth. Adding to GDP will most likely mean adding to carbon emissions, for the foreseeable future.

That’s true, and not only are they ra-ra for the growth of solar, wind etc. they happily hand over tax breaks and subsidies to companies that proclaim they have new technologies that will reduce the need for traditional fossil fuels. This is what we call “picking winners” and ignoring market driven dynamics that allow true demand to determine which technologies and products will ultimately prove to flourish.

Will the real freeloaders please stand up? Sounds as though you created a nice list of them!

I’m grateful for clean water, safe infrastructure, public schools, and the police force and court system. I always had the maximum taken out of my paycheck, and am proud to contribute to this country, even if you don’t want to, or the corporations who have the means and ability to declare revenue offshore. In 1995, I-95 lost its center of a bridge over a water way, and six cars went down. Even for the corporate heads who devise tax-avoidance schemes, I’m happy to pay the full amount, in the state and country where I live and where the $$ gets made, so the bridge over which his limousine drives, with him in the back in his shades, stays safe.

What I find interesting is that even the more progressively minded companies (Google, Mac) are using every tax coupon in the book. Usually these are the same people who call for more government programs which necessitate high taxes, yet are unwilling to pay out themselves.

The reason this is important is that if America wants to be a tax-haven we need to have low spending and necessarily low obligations. If those companies are going to repatriate their money here to improve the well being of American lives, we are going to need to make it worthwhile for them to invest here.

Welcome to the 21st century, where you can buy from anywhere in the world, but they can sell from anywhere in the world. Governments simply have to compete for tax revenue just like employees for jobs and businesses for sales. We can’t simply complain that people are intelligent enough to find a better deal.